Author's Note: I own nothing. And sorry it's so long, I'll try to update again soon and I promise it'll get better. Please review!
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Two weeks and three dates later, Michelle sat at her station and attempted to stay awake while finishing up the report she was working on. She stopped typing for a moment, putting her hand to her forehead and massaging the area just above her eyes. She jumped when her phone suddenly rang.
"Dessler."
"Go home." Michelle twisted her upper body around to see Tony looking down at her from his office.
She smiled weakly and said, "I'm almost done, I'll be out of here before too long."
"How many people come up with excuses to stay at work when their bosses tell them to leave?"
"People who don't want to do this again tomorrow night." Tony laughed.
"Fine. I'll be down there in fifteen minutes, and if you're not done, I'm carrying you out of here," Tony replied in a faux- angry tone of voice, hanging up roughly.
Michelle smiled as she turned back to her computer and resumed typing.
As promised, exactly fourteen and a half minutes later, came walking down the stairs from his office, coat and keys in hand. "Time's up," he said as he reached Michelle's station.
"Hang on just...a... minute..." Michelle said between clicks.
"I did!" Tony exclaimed. "Fifteen of them. Chelle, everyone else has been home for two hours."
"You don't have to wait for me," Michelle said, continuing to type.
"But I want to."
"Then wait a little longer."
"Michelle," Tony said, grabbing her wrists and turning her chair around to face him. "As your boss, I am ordering you to come with me."
"Fine..." Michelle sighed, saving her report and grabbing her purse from underneath her desk.
"That's better." Tony took Michelle's hand and half-led, half-pulled Michelle out of CTU and into the parking lot.
Just as Michelle and Tony reached their cars, parked side by side, Michelle dropped Tony's hand and looked harder into her purse. "Crap!" she said, looking up to meet Tony's eyes. "I left my keys on my desk.
She started to walk back inside, but Tony lightly touched her arm and said, "Wait. Don't bother. I'll take you home. We can pick up something to eat on the way."
Forty-five minutes later, Michelle entered her apartment with Tony close behind, carrying the food. "Ellie!" Michelle called. "Come eat!" She turned to Tony as she approached the cupboard next to her refrigerator. "Do you want anything to drink? I don't generally keep alcohol in the house, but I've got orange juice, water, milk, chocolate milk..."
"A glass of water would be great," Tony interrupted.
Ellie shuffled into the kitchen, her hair a mess and wearing light purple pajama pants with a light blue shirt that didn't really match. "I already ate-oh, hi Tony," she said, first to Michelle, and then noticing Tony seated at the kitchen counter.
"What'd you eat?" Michelle said as she handed Tony a glass of water and opened one of the takeout bags they had brought home.
"Peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Ellie replied.
Michelle raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not still hungry?"
Ellie nodded. "But I'm really tired. Do you have to work tomorrow night?"
Tony looked to Michelle and shook his head, but Michelle paused before answering. "There are a couple of things that I have got to get finished before the weekend, but I shouldn't be too late. How was track today?"
Tony set down the taco he had been eating and turned to Ellie. "You run track?" Ellie nodded. "What events?"
Softly, Ellie said, "The two-mile, the mile, and high hurdles."
"I did the mile in high school!"
"Really?"
Michelle stood and ate, watching Ellie and Tony, seated side by side, talk about running. Just as Tony reached for his second taco, however, Ellie looked at the clock and said, "You know, I really am tired- I'd better get to bed."
"Alright," Tony said, turning to face Ellie as she stood up. "Be sure to let me know when your next meet is!"
Ellie nodded, said goodnight to Michelle, and disappeared into her bedroom.
"You're amazing," Michelle said as soon as Ellie was out of earshot.
"Yeah... I get that a lot," Tony said, smiling. "But you're pretty amazing yourself, you know."
"No, I meant just now. With Ellie."
"What was so amazing about that? We just talked."
"Exactly!" Michelle exclaimed. "My little sister never just talks!"
"What do you mean?"
"Ellie is almost painfully shy. I could count on one hand the number of people she could actually hold a conversation with. And you got her to open up to you just like that." Michelle smiled. "You know, it's a major turn-on."
Tony chuckled and returned the grin. "You know what else is a turn-on?" he said, gesturing for Michelle to come sit next to him.
"What?" Michelle asked as she made her way around the counter to the stool next to Tony.
"When you, uh... um, when you tell me that I turn you on?"
Michelle laughed and, taking Tony's face into her hands, said, "That works for me," before kissing him, first gently on the neck, and then working her way to his lips. Tony wrapped his arms around Michelle's waist and pulled her towards him, deepening the kiss. After a moment, Michelle pulled back and whispered, "Your mouth tastes like tacos."
Tony feigned a hurt look before turning back around on his stool. Just before he reached for his taco, he noticed a large book sitting on the corner of Michelle's countertop. Reaching for it, he asked, "What's this thing?"
"Oh, it's just..." Michelle began, reaching for the book, "...pictures." Tony pulled the photo album away from her just in time and opened to the first page.
"What kind of pictures, huh? Embarrassing ones?"
"Well, sort of..." Michelle said. "There're some from when I was little..."
Tony smiled. "Then there's no chance you're getting these back for a while."
Michelle returned Tony's wide grin with a sarcastic eye-roll. "Well if you're done eating, we might as well go sit on the couch."
The first picture in Michelle's photo album showed a curly-haired little girl sitting on a swing, turning around to see the photographer, who was standing behind her. "Is this you?" Tony asked, tugging on one of Michelle's stray curls.
Michelle nodded. "I think I was about five in that picture."
"You were adorable."
"Thank you."
Tony turned the page, and was greeted by a glossy 8-by-10 of a teenaged Michelle in a graduation cap and gown. "Your graduation from high school?" he asked. Michelle nodded, smiling. "Where did you go to high school?"
"We lived in Switzerland for my ninth and half of tenth grade years, but I did the last two years and graduated in New York."
"Wow! Switzerland?" Tony asked enthusiastically.
"Yeah, my dad was diplomat," Michelle responded, turning back to the photo album. "See, this one is of me and Ellie, she was five," she said, pointing to a picture of Michelle holding a miniature Ellie.
Michelle turned the page, revealing more graduation pictures, on of which contained three girls. Tony recognized Michelle and Ellie, but the third had lighter, straighter hair than the other two. "Who's this?"
"Oh that's my other little sister, Kerry," Michelle said. "She's four years younger than I am; She lives in New York."
"Hey, she's cute too," Tony said, eliciting a whack on the arm from Michelle. He hurriedly continued, "In that cute little sister kind of way."
They continued looking at pictures; pictures of Michelle's not-so-wild college years, pictures of Michelle's childhood dance recitals, pictures of Michelle's sisters and brother, and lots of pictures of her dad.
"So," Tony said as Michelle shut the book. "Your dad was a diplomat, huh?"
"Yes," Michelle replied. "So, we lived all over."
"Like where?"
"Well, Danny and I were both born in New York City- the United Nations is there, so we were there a lot too- Kerry was born in Argentina, Ellie was born in New York while we were living in Italy, but I think my mom pitched a fit about Italian hospitals or something. That was when my mom left, and after that we lived a whole bunch of other places, but we were back in New York a lot. I graduated in New York, but like two weeks later, my dad and Kerry and Ellie moved to Beijing, China."
"Where did your dad die?" Tony almost surprised himself with the boldness of the question.
"He had a massive heart attack only a few weeks after he and Ellie had moved to Paris. I was working with the DOD, and Kerry was still at Columbia. Ellie was twelve. Not even twelve. Eleven. And she came home one day and..." Michelle choked on her words, holding back tears. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay," Tony said, gathering Michelle into his arms. "It's okay, sweetheart, it's okay."